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28 Trivia Tidbits About Pop Culture That’s Aged Poorly

Forget the Oscar slap, ever heard Will Smith’s cringey ‘80s lyrics?

28 Trivia Tidbits About Pop Culture That’s Aged Poorly

April 19, 2024 Add Cracked to Google

Progress can be a slow process. Our findings today have taught us that some early aughts pop culture was just as old world as that of the ‘80s. Maybe we’ve experienced such a quantum leap in progress lately that anything before 2016 seems ancient. But hey, maybe young folks 20 years from now will be horrified by the pop culture of today.

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28

CRACKED BLACK FACE CAN'T BE YOUR ENTIRE PLOT ANYMORE. SOUL MAN In the 1986 movie, a spoiled white kid pretends to be black to nab a Harvard scholarship exclusive to black students. It does raise awareness of prejudice and racism, but all the blackface made it wildly offensive, even for 1986 standards. — Source

27

CRACKED YOUR ENTIRE PLOT CAN'T BE ONE BIG TRANS JOKE ANYMORE. ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE The Einhorn is Finkle, Finkle is Einhorn plot has one big reveal of Einhorn's bulge tucked between her legs. This would never be played up as a joke today, and we wonder why it was even needed to tell a stolen dolphin story. — Source

26

CRACKED YOUR ENTIRE PLOT CAN'T INVOLVE RIGID GENDER NORMS. MR. MOM A laid-off man becomes a stay-at-home dad while his wife returns to work. Jokes about a man changing diapers and ironing shirts couldn't be seen as ridiculous today. Don't worry, in the happy ending, he returns to work and his wife gets back to the homestead. — Source

25

CRACKED DISCUSSING DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY The gross-out humor is actually really good. They pull off a ton of memorable raunchy bits, but Matt Dillon using the R word, referring to a kid as Mongo, and discussing his cage, and his leash has never sat well with decent viewers. — Source

24

CRACKED SARAH SILVERMAN is horrified that she did blackface. About her show's 2007 episode: I don't stand by the blackface sketch. I'm horrified by it, and I can't erase it. I can only be changed by it and move on. That was such liberal-bubble stuff, where I actually thought it was dealing with racism by using racism... All I can say is that I'm not that person anymore. — Source

23

CRACKED MAUI TRIED TO MURDER MOANA. MOANA Не starts by dooming the world for selfish reasons, then when Moana needs him to rectify this, he shut her in a cave without food or water, and sails off on her boat. Then he leaves her with those murderous coconuts. — Source

22

CRACKED CARRIE BRADSHAW IS SELFISH AND SUPERFICIAL. SEX AND THE CITY As viewers matured, they realized that Carrie was materialistic, needy with toxic men (prioritizing them over her friends), and she never matured into a strong independent role model for young women. — Source

21

CRACKED POUTING DOESN'T MAKE ROSS GELLER A NICE GUY. FRIENDS Seen as the ultimate nice guy, he's a jealous control freak who never supports Rachel's career. Не cheats (claiming they were on a break), lied about reading her letter, and lied about the annulment so Rachel would stay married to him (without her knowledge). — Source

20

500 Days of Summer

CRACKED ТОМ HANSEN WAS THE PROTOTYPICAL NICE GUY. 500 DAYS OF SUMMER planet earth ISPY part - NOWHERE CINCERNA DO TOUT POLICE LOVE WILL TEAR US APART LOST ISOT 12803 After years of hearing what nice guy Tom was, Joseph Gordon-Levitt said, I would encourage anyone who has a crush on my character to watch it again and examine how selfish he is. — Source

19

Superbad

SETH'S CRACKED ENTIRE PLOT IS DATE RAPE. SUPERBAD His master plan is to get Emma Stone's character drunk enough to sleep with him. When he discovers she doesn't drink, he whines, gets grabby, and vomits on her. Worse, he seems to be practicing for a string of similar assaults in college. — Source

18

CRACKED THE DEPLORABLE PRIME MINISTER. LOVE ACTUALLY Hugh Grant as The Prime Minister is essentially Tony Blair with a Bill Clinton libido. Grant might be lovable in '90s rom-coms, but he abuses his power to sleep with a young aide. Relentless, he and his security guards even crash her family Christmas. — Source

17

CRACKED JAKE RYAN OFFERS HIS PASSED OUT GIRLFRIEND UP AS A PLAY THING. SIXTEEN CANDLES He's played up as the perfect high school good guy, but why, because he likes the nerdy girl? His infatuation becomes outright stalking, and he hands his drunk, passed out girlfriend to the perverted Anthony Michael Hall saying, Do whatever you want. — Source

16

CRACKED DIRTY HARRY NEEDS A BODYCAM TO KEEP HIM IN CHECK. DIRTY HARRY In one of Clint Eastwood's most iconic films, this rogue cop is supposed to follow a strict code of conduct, but he violates civil rights, abuses prisoners, and kills at will. He's portrayed as good, but he's a menace to society. — Source

15

CRACKED WILLY WONKA WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY He's egotistical, and does nothing to help the endangered children that displease him. Oh and the Oompa Loompas are basically slaves. — Source

14

Cringey lyrics from the '80s Poison I Want Action I can't wait to get my hands on them. I won't give up until they give in. If I can't have her, I'll take her and make her. You're gonna make her, Bret Michaels? Well, no means no, Bret Michaels! We'd say this didn't age well, but it wasn't acceptable back then (or ever!). CRACKED — Source

13

Cringey lyrics from the '80s The Beastie Boys Girls I asked her out, she said 'No way.' I should of probably guessed her gay. If a girl isn't into you, she must be gay! Lyrics for the fragile ego of the rejected bro. And it's have, Beastie Boys. You should have probably guessed that she is gay. CRACKED — Source

12

Cringey lyrics from the '80s AC/DC Let Me Put My Love Into You Don't you struggle. Don' 't you fight. Don't you worry. 'Cause it's your turn tonight. If the title of the song wasn't cringey enough, they really doubled down with a good ol' take on consent in the '80s. CRACKED — Source

11

Cringey lyrics from the '80s Guns N' Roses One in a Million Racial and homophobic slurs that we'd care to not repeat. EXCLUSIVE - . - - N - DRUGA Sort frees shet of by WITH gong THE SHOCKII Serving - - - - GTO USED TO Elephant giv LOVE HER HE - - - One In A - - - - - - - - Controversial even at the time, many questioned why Slash (who is half black) played on a song where Axl drops the worst possible word that begins with an N. CRACKED — Source

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10

Cringey lyrics from the '80s DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince Parents Just Don't Understand And this girl's hand was steadily moving up my thigh. She had opened up three buttons on her shirt so far. I almost had a heart attack that day. Come to find out the girl was a twelve-year-old runaway. Will Smith was 20 when this was released, and even if the song was about his younger self, he picks up this girl while driving his car. Do we need to keep listing reasons this is problematic?! CRACKED — Source

9

Gossip Bass

CHUCK BASS Chuck is an attempted rapist in the first episode of Gossip Girl, yet somehow becomes a romantic icon? CRACKED.COM — Source

8

Bad show. Don't watch it.

COPS The reality show is deeply unsettling when you realize it's just exploitative reality show copaganda. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

FLASHBACK MONICA Almost any character wearing a fat suit for the laughs is just cringey. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

CLIFF HUXTABLE With Bill Cosby's sexual assault cases, it's hard to be charmed by the purity of The Cosby Show anymore. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

MANGO RA WE - adidas Dem COSTUME The Saturday Night Live character (arguably) now reeks of using homophobia for laughs. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

PEPÉ LE PEW The cartoon skunk stalks and sexually assaults Penelope Pussycat, in a weird French stereotype. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

POWER RANGERS Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was a lesson in racial stereotypes, starting with the Rangers' color choices. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

SI AND AM The Lady and the Tramp antagonists rely on heavy Asian stereotypes to taunt Lady and cause havoc. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

LONG DUK DONG Sixteen Candles is a rough nowadays, but nothing is quite as insufferable as the racist stereotypes the character emobodied. CRACKED.COM — Source

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